Method of producing simulated longhand-written letters



Au 7, 1923. 1,463,939 A. E. CHAPPELL I METHOD OF PRODUCING SIMULATED LONGHAND WRITTEN LETTERS Filed April 1, 1922 b (5 MW Patented Aug. 7, 1923.

teie ARTHUR E. onarrnnri, on waunisean, ILLINOIS.

METHOD OF PRO IDUCING SIEIULATED LONGHAND WRITTEN LETTERS.

Application filed April 1,

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, ARTHUR E. CHAPPELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at /Vaukegan, in the county of Lake and State of Illinois, have. invented certain new and useful Improvements in h i ethods of Pro ducing Simulated Longhand-VVritten Lets. ters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to theproduction of form letters, and aims to give to the recipients'of such letters the impression of personally longhand written letters, and contemplates the attainment of this result without the necessity of actually writing each individual letter.

It is well recognized that a personally written letter will receive much more consideration than a communication which is obviously a form letter and to secure this consideration without the expenditure of the time and labor which would necessarily be involved in actually writing each individual letter completely in longhand is the purpose of my present invention.

In carrying my novel method into effect, the procedure is substantially as follows: The individual whose signature is to appear on the various form letters to be produced first writes out in longhand the body portion of a form letter which may be suitably sent to a large number-ofcompanies or individuals. This body portion of the letter ineludes the common subject matter to be communicated and preferably also the complimentary closing phrase and signature. A zinc etching of this longha-nd written form letter is then made by the usual process employed in the production of zinc etched plates. This plate is then used in a press in the customary manner to produce the required number of reproductions of the original longhand written form letter body. The reproductions are imposed upon suitable letter paper, preferably bearing the letterhead of the sender and the reproduction is so positioned on the paper that ample space is left above the form letter body for the in sertion of the date, address and salutation.

Preferably also the lower body is so arranged that space will be left below the signature in which a post-script may be written in the event that personal matter in addition to the matter contained in the form letter may be added if desired. The sheets of letter paper with the form letters in longhand zinc-etched thereon are then filled in 1922. .Serial No. 548,522.

by the writer of the original longhand 't'ornr who, with pen and ink, insert-s above the form body the date, address and salutation of the letter and in so doing he uses ink which simulates in appearance and is in distinguishable from. the ink employed in the production of the zinc-etched body portion of the letter. Any additional information desired to be conveyed, may also be.

written in longhand a post-script at the end of the form body. The completedletter. therefore has every appearance of an in dividually written longhand letter, and

since the same hand writing appears in the Fig. l is a fragmentary view showing the body portion of a form letter as originally written in longhand;

Fig. 2 is a face view of a zinc-etched plate adapted to reproduce the form letter shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 illustrates a. completed letter em bodying the zinc-etched form and the filled in date, address and Salutation.

Referring to the drawings more in detail, reference character 5, Fig. 1, indicates a sheet of paper upon which the form letter body 6 and the signature 7 are written in.

longhand, This written form letter is then etched upon a zinc plate 8 (Fig. 2) in the usual manner of producing etched plates of this character, the etched portion being indicated by reference character 9.

From this plate the body of the letter is reproduced upon letter paper 11 (Fig. 3), the etching being indicated by reference character 12. The address 13,the salutation M and the date 15 are then written out in long-hand with ink which presents the same appearance as the ink employed in reproducing the etched portion 12 of the letter, so that the completed letter has every appearance of an individual letter completely written in longhand.

It is believed that my improved method and many of the inherent advantages will be understood and appreciated from the foregoing without further description, and it should be manifest that the subject-matter of the letters, the manner of producing the etched plate, and many other variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims. And While the inventionhas been disclosed in connection With the production of letters, the WOICl letters is to be construed in its generic sense, since obviously any subject matter is contemplated.

I claim: i

1. The method of producing simulated longhand. Written letters which consists in, Writing the form portion of a form letterin longhand, making an etched plate therefrom, reproducing from said plate a plurality of etched form letters, and adding in longhand to said etched form letters With ink and peninanship simulating said etched form letters, the individual characteristics necessary to produce complete letters each having the appearance of being an individual longhand Written letter.

2. The method of producing simulated longhand Written letters which consists in, writing in long-hand the body portion of a form letter, producing anetched plate from said portion, reproducing from said plate a plurality of said letter forms, and completing the letters by Writing the address and other individual portions of the letters in longhand. with ink having the appearance of the ink. appearing in the etched portion.

3. The method of producing simulated longhand Written letters which consists in, Writing in. longhand the form portion of a formletter, producing' a plurality of zinc etchings thereof, and adding. in longhand to said etchings With ink and penmanship simulating that of the etchings the date, address and other characteristics necessary to produce complete letters.

ARTHUR E. CHAPPELL. 

